Metropolis, Now!
by oksofia
Summary: Complete. Superman and Wonder Woman are photographed in a "passionate embrace." Assuming that she is Superman's other kryptonite, Livewire and Luminus decide to kidnap her. NOT SM/WW. Continuity: before "Hearts and Minds," JL season 2.
1. Chapter 1

**METROPOLIS, NOW!**

**Disclaimer:** I have no legal rights over "Justice League" or any characters therein.

**I**

The android had climbed half the length of the Emperor Building before it felt the full force of Hawkgirl's mace against its chest. The resounding clang of the metals as they impacted one another could be heard for miles, and even made Superman wince as he sped toward the falling android. With a calculated lunge, he seized the android's arm to slow its descent while directly below him, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl cleared a crowd of gaping spectators who were too stunned to move. He released the robot when the space had been vacated; it fell with a deafening crash.

The three Justice Leaguers regrouped above the Emperor Building, where they surveyed the damage resulting from their lengthy confrontation with the Lexcorp's rogue android. A significant part of Metropolis's New Troy district was in shambles. Wonder Woman vaguely observed a cut heal on Superman's chin as he spoke. "Hawkgirl, you take care of evacuating these people from the area. Wonder Woman, try to reassemble some of the larger pieces of the skyscrapers. I'll join you as soon as I put out some of these fires." They disbanded and flew toward the ground.

Wonder Woman grabbed a slab of concrete twice her size and inspected it quietly. During her time in Man's World, she had often heard comparisons of Metropolis and Gotham. While she never participated in such discussions out of loyalty to both Superman and Batman, she was more intrigued by Metropolis. It held an elusive, almost sinister charm, cloaking danger by bathing it in sunlight and sparkling windows. Being there made her feel faintly disarmed. After setting aside the concrete slab to classify it later, she flew several feet to her left and grabbed the Daily Planet building's characteristic globe to return it to its proper place. As she rose the height of the skyline, she heard Hawkgirl's distant shouting as she attempted to create order.

Once she had secured the globe in its place, she scanned for the android on the ground below to confirm that it was still motionless. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw that it was raising its arm toward the sky. In panic, she spun around to see where it was aiming. "Superman!" she yelled in horror.

Superman didn't hear her. He was about one hundred yards away from her, taking deep breaths and then exhaling in order to douse the fires that had cropped up as an aftermath of their battle. A small missile rose from the android's arm and cocked back, ready to fire. As strong as Superman was, the android's missiles were no laughing matter. Diana's arms still stung from the two that she had deflected with her gauntlets earlier during the battle. What was more, there was a very good chance that the missiles were laced with kryptonite - the android was a Lexcorp creation, after all.

Without hesitating, Wonder Woman shot towards Superman with all the speed she could summon, her arms stretched out in anticipation. At the same time, the android launched the missile aimed squarely for the back of Superman's skull.

What happened next occurred in a matter of moments. Wonder Woman, unwilling and unable to slow down, crashed into Superman, throwing her arms around his head in order to deflect the missile hurtling towards him. Her momentum was so great that an audible crack could be heard when they made contact - Superman's nose broke when it impacted with the side of her face. At the same time, Superman had his full attention on a fire raging below. He had just finished inhaling when Wonder Woman collided with him; the icy breath he had intended to douse the fire blew squarely into her ear.

Diana's eyes widened when she began lose sensation in the right side of her face. A split second later, the missile smashed into her gauntlets. The pain of these two onslaughts was too much, even for her. She gave a final look at Superman's panic-stricken face, and then everything went black.

--

"Good morning, sunshine," greeted Hawkgirl's voice as Diana blinked in the harsh lights of the Watchtower's medical bay. The right side of her head was throbbing dully. She looked down at herself and noticed with a start that she was lying on a stretcher.

Suddenly, she remembered. "The android?" she gasped as she turned her head to face Hawkgirl.

Hawkgirl smiled serenely. "After I saw what happened to you, I took care of it."

Diana turned her head to face the ceiling again. She relaxed when she felt Hawkgirl's hand on her arm. "We thought we had lost you," sighed her friend. "All of us were worried sick while J'onn worked on you. You should have heard the way Batman chewed out Kal."

"It wasn't Kal's fault," answered Diana defensively. She pulled herself into a sitting position, taking care not to disturb the electrodes that were monitoring her heartbeat. "How long did J'onn take to treat me?" she asked curiously.

Hawkgirl, upon seeing that Wonder Woman was going to survive, answered truthfully. "Maybe an hour - it seemed longer to all of us who were waiting. You ear canal was frozen solid, and J'onn was afraid that some of the frost had reached you brain. Luckily, he had had experience with something similar - he managed to reduce your injury to a frostbite. But you were out for almost ten hours after that. We've all been here, waiting for you to wake up." She reached out to touch her friend's arm again, as if she was trying to convince herself that Diana was really awake.

"What about Superman? The missile?"

"The missile didn't get him, you did. You broke his nose, but Batman seemed to take real pleasure in breaking it again so that it could heal properly."

Diana felt a sudden warmth spread across her face that had nothing to do with her injury. Hawkgirl noticed it too. "It wasn't Kal's fault," Diana mumbled again, trying to imagine what Batman must have looked like when he had seen her in the medical bay. Hawkgirl responded only with a knowing smirk.

The doors of the medical bay slid open then, revealing a visibly worried Superman. He rushed to his recovering friend's side with the Flash at his heels. "Diana!" he exclaimed, "Thank goodness you're all right. I'm sorry for what happened." He furrowed his brow and added earnestly, "I probably owe you my life."

Diana, upon seeing his concern, took her hands in his. "I would gladly face any threats for your sake," she told him warmly. Hawkgirl and Flash smiled at this.

However, she saw that Superman shifted uncomfortably. Before she could wonder why, he quickly said, "Lantern and I are heading out to Ryjel-9 for a case. We'll be gone for a couple of days. I'll see you all when I get back." With one last glance at Diana, he left the room.

The two women exchanged looks. "What's with him?" Hawkgirl wondered aloud.

"Probably this," answered Flash. He tossed a folded newspaper into Hawkgirl's hands. Diana smiled as she watched him anxiously inspect her right ear. "I guess Amazons aren't used to frostbite, huh?" he quipped, unable to remain serious any longer.

She was about to retort when Hawkgirl interrupted her with a low whistle and held out the newspaper. Diana took it and immediately, her eyes fell on the headline splashed across the front page. "AN OFFICE ROMANCE OF SUPERHEROIC PROPORTIONS," it proclaimed. She then glanced at the picture directly below it. Her jaw dropped.

Someone from the Daily Planet had taken a picture of the exact instant that she had crashed into Superman. Her arms were thrown around him, his face was smashed against hers, and the shrapnel from the exploding missile had enveloped them in a shower of colorful sparks. She flinched when she recalled the blinding pain she had felt at that moment, but the memory was quickly replaced with rage when she realized what the picture was implying.

"Looks like you're kissing," observed Flash.

--


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

For the fifth time that day, Diana read the front page of the Daily Planet:

_AN OFFICE ROMANCE OF SUPERHEROIC PROPORTIONS  
by Catherine "Cat" Grant_

_METROPOLIS -- Superman himself may be the Man of Steel, but his heart certainly is not. Metropolis's guardian has found true love with someone worthy of him at last, proving that longstanding rumors of his affair with Wonder Woman are true. Late last night, after battling an android that escaped from a secure Lexcorp facility, the two superheroes met mid-air in passionate embrace to celebrate their victory. Speculation surrounding a possible relationship between the two has been brewing ever since Wonder Woman joined the Justice League nearly two years ago; with their coordinating outfits and fearless style of combat…_

Wonder Woman was a well-known figure. She was used to being in the public eye. When she was not working with the Justice League, she navigated the high-profile worlds of diplomacy and academia. Even her recent budding friendship with Princess Audrey of Kasnia had caused a small but polite media frenzy. After two years in Man's World, she had become accustomed to seeing her name casually mentioned in some small corner of the paper.

But this was different. This was the first time that she had made the front page – of the Daily Planet, no less – on the basis of something so…trifling. Had the article delved into the details of the Lexcorp android, she would have understood why she was front-page news. But it barely made mention of the robot – instead, it focused on a wild presumption of her association with Superman.

She had been unable to restrain her anger ever since Hawkgirl had first shown her the paper. There were many reasons for her overwhelming fury. One of her weakest and most inglorious moments in combat had been captured and preserved to be circulated to news media around the world – while Superman had suffered only a broken nose, she had been rendered _unconscious._ The warrior in her was mortified. Perhaps she could take solace in the fact that the article did not notice that her collision with Superman was the result of a lack of skill. But no – the blatant practice of poor journalism in a publication with the caliber of the Daily Planet only served to increase her anger. For a medium that claimed to proclaim only the truth, the amount of conjecture in this article was revolting.

And perhaps most irritating was her encounter with Superman in the medical bay. Her affection for Kal knew no bounds; upon her arrival in Man's World, he was the one who was most welcoming, most supportive, most generous of heart. She respected and admired him so much that at times she even forgot that he was a man. But his behavior upon reading the article brought the realization crashing back into her mind – he was a _man_ – of course he was incapable of concluding anything but the basest possibility. Did he actually think that she had rushed to save him because she harbored romantic notions towards him?

Again, she picked up the paper to reread the front page, but then defiantly set it aside. There was no need to nurse her ire any further. She left her room to visit the monitor womb, where she knew that Flash and J'onn were on duty.

Much to her chagrin, they were discussing the offending Daily Planet article. She narrowed her eyes in preparation for a confrontation. "Did you see how he jumped at the chance for a deep space mission?" Flash was laughing, "I've never seen the Big Blue turn so yellow after _reading_ something."

"You mustn't be too harsh on him, Flash," said J'onn, "He is afraid to face her."

"Well, Lois Lane is a spitfire all right. I wouldn't want to face her either. But it always amazes me that the guy who single-handedly fought Mongul and Darkseid nearly wets his pants when it comes to a tiny human reporter. Tell me that's not hilarious."

J'onn obeyed. "That is not hilarious. In its purest form, love between two companions can be devastatingly debilitating." Flash muttered an inaudible reply.

A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of Diana's mouth. She had met Lois Lane on several occasions, generally while she was in Metropolis addressing news media. Superman in love with Lois? The idea had vaguely occurred to her before; its veracity was reassuring – in her eyes, her friend had reassumed his noble character. Considerably calmer than before, she was about to greet J'onn and Flash when Batman's voice crackled on her comm. link. "Diana!" it barked.

"What?" she snapped back. After laboriously regaining her good spirits, she was in no mood to have them dampen again by hearing his opinion of the article. She could already guess what he would say if the unusual level of graveness in his voice was any indication.

There was a pause – he had not expected her reply. "I'm hearing strange rumors about something on Fourth and Bullard in Metropolis's Suicide Slum district. Can you take care of it?"

"Of course I can," she rejoined, her anger reemerging. Did he think she was an incompetent fighter because of how she had sustained her most recent injuries? Nearly snarling, she stepped onto the platform of the womb, where Flash was already locating the coordinates to display them on the monitor. The three of them gasped at what they saw.

At the street corner that Batman had specified stood an abandoned, decrepit building surrounded by a tall, chain-link fence which was lined with barbed wire. Right by the gate in the fence was Wonder Woman's body, unnaturally twisted and impaled on the jutting spikes of wire. A pool of blood had collected directly underneath it. Diana felt a wave of nausea sweep over her at the sight.

Flash threw J'onn an alarmed look, to which J'onn replied, "The real Wonder Woman is with us." However, the real Wonder Woman was unable to tear her eyes from the screen. Determining the motivation behind staging such a display was beyond her at the moment, and she struggled to draw any conclusion. The scene captivated her in its grotesqueness. It was eerily realistic – the face on the impaled body was hers exactly.

"I'm taking shuttle three," she said resolutely as she slammed her fist down on the console.

"It could be an ambush," warned J'onn.

The possibility had crossed her mind, but it was not enough to deter her. "If you see anything unusual, send backup." Before either of them could protest again, she headed to the hangar.

--

In the late afternoon light, even the squalor of Suicide Slum seemed nearly ornamental. The faintly unsettling feeling she felt whenever she was in Metropolis was present, but it was also combined a kind of sickening suspense at what she would encounter. Wonder Woman had spent a good amount of time hiding in the shadows near the abandoned building, surveying the area. There was nothing to indicate anyone else's presence

Nervously rubbing together her thumb and index finger, she decided to approach her mangled effigy. It was not the most intelligent tactic, she realized; it would be best to request J'onn for backup before she attempted anything. Yet despite these considerations, her curiosity and pride triumphed. Cautiously, she flew over to the chain-link fence to inspect her double.

It was a real body, she discerned with another wave of disgust. Deep red blood gathered in pools where the barbed wire spikes had pierced its stomach; the blood dripped down the fence and collected in the dirt, brilliantly reflecting the sunlight. She accepted the inherence of death during combat, but seeing her own body so mutilated was an unusually disconcerting experience. Whoever did this was trying to send a clear message, and she tried to turn away long enough to form a list of possible perpetrators.

But before she could begin, she felt the hard impact of something hollow and solid against the back of her skull. Wonder Woman staggered forward in surprise, but quickly recovered and spun around. The identity of her assailant stunned her – her twisted, bleeding double had dislodged itself from the fence and was standing in front of her, holding out something glowing and green: kryptonite.

Realization struck her at once. This whole elaborate illusion had been created with the intent of luring Superman to the site, and the kryptonite was meant to enervate him. Diana delivered a kick to her effigy's chest, which shattered it; she crumbled the remaining kryptonite with her hands. Superman had many enemies – her mind reeled with names; she knew that one of them had the ability to make holograms solid. She recalled Hawkgirl's report of the team's encounter with Dr. Destiny several months ago – Luminus?

As her eyes darted around the scene to find him, she brought her hand to her face to hide her voice as she contacted J'onn. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked across her face and into her comm. link. With a loud snap, she felt an electrical current flare up in her ear. Wonder Woman dropped to her knees and yelled in pain. "J'onn!" she cried, but to no avail. Her comm. link was dead. The bolt of lightning fled from her ear and shot towards the chain-link fence, where it seemed to vanish.

Furious, Diana approached the fence. Her head was pulsating in agony, but she managed to avoid touching the fence in case the lightning had charged it. Her heedfulness was futile – just as she was trying to ignore her throbbing pain and inspect the bolt's disappearance, she felt Luminus's hand seize her arm and pull her through the fence into the hologram.

--

**AN**: NO SM/WW, EVER. I believe that the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane is the most important pairing in postmodern folklore. In Action Comics #761, Superman and Wonder Woman fight together in Asgard for 1000 years but never enter a romantic relationship because according to him, "Even if she is...gone...a thousand years and another world past...Lois is still the only one."


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

Luminus still had his hands clasped around Wonder Woman's arm when he pulled her behind the hologram to reveal an abandoned warehouse. She swung her arm and flung him into the concrete wall. Noticing a window in the far corner of the building, she shot towards it – somehow, she had to notify the Watchtower of her situation before she began to fight. So focused was she on reaching the opening that she didn't notice the sudden burst of electricity that seared into the side of her armor. With a cry of frustration rather than of hurt, she dropped fifty feet onto the cold, hard floor. The impact of her fall caused the boxes stacked against the walls to scatter as well.

She threw a glance in the direction of the source of the electrical current, but was unable to recognize the offender: it was a small woman with a shock of white hair and fluorescent eyes; she was wearing a black bodysuit with a neckline in the shape of a lightning bolt. Her face was covered with a smirk as she observed the fallen Wonder Woman.

Determinedly, Diana rose from the ground and curled her fists, staring coldly at her attacker. When two more bolts of electricity came shooting her way, she deflected them with her gauntlets, aiming them back at their source. The tiny villain hadn't expected this; with a yell of disbelief, she crashed into a stack of boxes.

Before she could recover, Diana unfastened her lasso and cast it at the heap of rubble and cardboard, which was now crackling with electricity. Gracefully, the lasso fell around her attacker and Diana began to pull her towards her until she felt a sharp stinging in her arms. The unknown attacker was secured, she would wait. Diana tossed aside the rope in her hands and faced Luminus, her hurt arm trembling.

Her anger was irrepressible; her usually sharp mind was fogged with discomfiting emotions and physical pain. Although the pain of the encounter with Superman the day before had decreased dramatically thanks to J'onn and her particular physiology, a dull remnant of it still throbbed continuously. Her short-circuiting comm. link had left her other ear in fresh agony. This, coupled with her suffering pride, only served to augment her listless anger until it completely clouded her judgment. She desperately wanted to prove her abilities to Batman – to all of them. As she lunged at Luminus, she planned to unleash the whole of her building fury on him.

Luminus was quick. He erected a steel wall between them that stretched to the ceiling, which Wonder Woman hurtled into with a magnificent crash. "Hera," she growled – not at all in her characteristically reverent manner. She had broken through Green Lantern's shields before, so this Luminus could hardly contain her. Gritting her teeth, she began to the punch the wall, increasing the dent created by her initial crash with each blow. The task commanded her full attention; she didn't notice that Luminus had stepped through the wall and darted past her.

Moments later, another jolt of electricity stabbed Diana, who whipped around in surprise. Luminus had released his accomplice from Wonder Woman's lasso, which he was swinging around his head. Diana, despite her unfocused senses, knew what he planned to do. In vain, she sped towards the window as fast as she was able – but she was not faster than lightning. Her trajectory was interrupted as she dodged another shock of light; the moment's hesitation was enough for Luminus to throw her own lasso around her arms and bind them together.

The instant Wonder Woman's gauntlets made contact with one another, she dropped to the floor. Had Luminus tied the lasso anywhere else, she would have still been able to escape long enough to call for reinforcements. But her two ignorant adversaries had unwittingly stripped Wonder Woman of her strength. Luminus seemed to think that the hero's powerlessness was due solely to the properties of her magical lasso.

With her divine gifts no longer protecting her, Diana experienced the full impact of her dramatic fall. She could feel her body swelling; bruises were forming and she knew from the distorted way she was draped on the ground that she might have broken some bones as well. It all felt distant, however. She could hardly think straight. Normally without her powers she could have relied on her quick wits. But now, she had neither. The next shock of electricity rammed into her, causing her to shiver, and for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, she slipped into unconsciousness.

--

Diana's anger terrified her teammates in the League. Her anger wasn't brooding like Batman's or violent like Hawkgirl's. Hers was a clear, icy, brilliant anger. The others were afraid of it because it was unnaturally cold and calculating and only heightened her senses instead of clouding them. As she gradually regained awareness, she reflected that she had let her frustration and humiliation get the better of her during her encounter with Luminus – in fact, it had dogged her ever since she awoke in the medical bay earlier that morning. Well, no more.

Without opening her eyes, she began to assess her current condition. She leaned forward exiguously and realized that each of her wrists and ankles duct-taped to a different limb of a chair and her torso and upper arms tied together with her magic lasso. Hera, she thought faintly, almost smiling at the duct tape. Did her captors not realize what she was capable of?

Thankfully, their method of capturing her had been a lucky mistake; her arms were no longer tied together, which meant that they were unaware of her weakness. She noticed that her abilities had been restored, although her body was healing slower than usual. As a final resort, she could easily break her limbs loose from the chair and fly out of wherever she was with the unbreakable lasso still knotted around her.

But she was angry. While she had recovered her clarity and martial acumen, her pride was still hurt. First, she would try to dispose of Luminus and his friend herself, and if she failed, she would ask for help – although it was an alternative she did not plan to use. She hoped the electricity-wielding villain was not in the room, as she was unsure of whether the magnetic fields caused by her presence would interfere with her telepathic call to J'onn.

– J'onn, she mentally contacted, I am all right, but please stand by.

"You charged up, Livewire?" she heard Luminus say.

Diana had heard Superman mention Livewire before as someone he was thankful to be freed from confronting again. After repeatedly sustaining the force of her attacks, Diana emphatically agreed with his assessment of her skill.

"Yeah, I'm good now. I'm ready for when Superman gets here. It's – gonna – be – _shockiiiing_." Livewire's voice grated on Diana's nerves, and her intonation only exaggerated its high pitch. "What about you, Lumey?" continued Livewire. "You need a coffee break?"

"Whatever," he answered flatly. "I'd rather wait for Superman. It won't be long before he notices that the Wonder Woman leaving the building was a hologram. Then the lunkhead will come flying here to rescue his girlfriend and we'll get him."

Livewire cackled gleefully, her voice hitting a note that rattled Diana's insides. She flinched, but neither of them seemed to notice as they were still in conversation. "You know, it's kind of nice that we got the real Wonder Woman with us. Although, I wonder what Superman sees in her, considering the company he normally keeps. Lois Lane's a little prettier."

"Lois Lane is _beautiful_," snapped Luminus.

"Ohhhh right. I forgot about your little obsession with Lois." After a pause, she asked slyly, "Is that why you hate him so much?"

There was no reply.

"Well, if that's the case, I think it's pretty funny that you've kidnapped his new girlfriend so that you can get even with him because he once dated his ex-girlfriend. You escaped from Stryker's again just to become a punchline?"

There was a loud slamming noise. "I hate Superman!" Luminus roared.

"Okay, okay," relented Livewire, not bothering to hide her amusement, "You hate Superman for a perfectly logical reason, keep your ugly costume on. Seriously, Eddy, go get a cup of coffee. You need to stay focused on the matter at hand. If Superman shows up, I promise I'll keep him busy until you come back."

"Fine." Seconds later, the door banged shut, and Diana heard a lighter set of footsteps approach her; the proximity of the electric field made her hair rise slightly.

"Luminus may be stupid," whispered Livewire's trying voice inches from Diana's face, "but I'm not. I know you're awake."

--


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

For the last hour, neither Wonder Woman nor Livewire had taken her eyes off of the other. It had started with a visible simper on Livewire's part, but Wonder Woman's gelid gaze eventually dashed the small villain's buoyant confidence. When Luminus reentered the room, Livewire turned to him with immense relief. Even swollen, bruised, and tied to a chair, Wonder Woman was menacing.

"You were gone long enough," Livewire scowled at him, "What if Superman had showed up while you were prancing around town?"

"You said you'd keep him busy until I got back," answered Luminus.

"Yeah, I said that, but hello, _idiot_ – I would've had two self-appointed 'protectors of the universe' to deal with alone. Despite their flamboyant appearances, they know how to pack a punch." She crossed her arms.

Luminus frowned and started for the door. "I'll keep a watch for him outside." He pushed a button on his belt and disappeared from view.

Livewire called out after him as the door slammed, "Why can't men ever own up when they make a mistake?" Diana's look of cool contempt changed into one of interest upon hearing this. As she watched Livewire idly zap a potted plant in the corner of the room to topple it over, she wondered if the villain had said this in order to gain sympathy in her hostage's eyes. When Livewire turned to Diana and held out her hand a few minutes later, Diana glared and braced herself for another one of Livewire's electrocuting shocks.

But none came. Instead, Livewire quipped abruptly, "I'm a big fan, Wonder Woman." She gave a short, embarrassed giggle when she realized that her handshake couldn't be met.

Diana wasn't sure of what to make of this. "Your eagerness to attack me suggested otherwise," she said coldly.

"Oh." Livewire looked at her feet. "It's nothing personal – it's Superman who's the real problem…only I'm beginning to wonder if we snagged the right girlfriend." She moved closer to Wonder Woman and studied her face, then asked, "Is it true that you come from an island with no men?"

Diana only continued to glare, which her adversary took to as affirmation. "Must be nice," sighed Livewire, but then shook her head and said in a stronger voice, "But if that's true, then it seems pretty unlikely that you'd start dating a man just a couple of years into your time on earth, even if he is _Superman_" – she huffed his name without hiding her disdain – "because I'm sure you've noticed that chicks around here have it pretty crappy thanks to men."

If only Livewire knew just how much Diana agreed with her. Maybe she did know. Even if she was critiquing patriarchy in order to gain Wonder Woman's trust for sinister reasons, Diana was certain that she heard a hint of earnestness in her address. She decided to interrogate her suspicions. "Superman is one of the better men I have encountered," ventured Diana, "Have your encounters with men been of a less pleasant nature?"

Livewire snorted. "_Less pleasant?_ You know, I had to work my butt off twice as hard as any man to get as far as I did in my career? And just when I'm _finally_ Metropolis's favorite star, another man – a _super_ man – does _this_ to me." She pointed to herself and began to snap with an especially strong surge of electricity.

Diana's curiosity about Livewire was replaced with a fresh wave of annoyance at the latter's hate for Superman. The villain laughed again, hitting the same jarring note that made Diana wince. However, this time when Diana twitched, she noticed with surprise that her lasso felt loose around her body. Her swelling had subsided dramatically since the confrontation in the warehouse.

"Are we in an office building?" she asked Livewire.

"Yeah. Classy, huh?"

"If you are going to hold me hostage, I demand a drink of water."

Livewire threw her head back and groaned with a flourish. "I don't know what your boyfriend told you, but if you're going to try to get me by spitting water in my face, it won't work."

"That is not my intention," answered Wonder Woman honestly.

Her captor eyed her cautiously. "I'll be right back." With a flash, she transformed into a lightning bolt and disappeared through a nearby wall. Wonder Woman heard her crackling seconds later as she traveled through the electrical circuitry in the ceiling.

It was time to move swiftly. Diana broke her imprisoning chair as she pulled her wrists and ankles from it; although she was no longer bound, large pieces of wood were still taped to her limbs. She flew over to a coat hook on the wall and slipped her lasso over it and twisted it until Luminus and Livewire's knots moved to the front.

Had her skin not been so tender from Livewire's recent electric shocks, she would not have sensed a faint swish of air pass her as she worked to free herself. It was Luminus. Vigilantly, she faced the direction in which she suspected he had gone, only to be met with a blow to her torso.

"You," she growled so dangerously that she could sense Luminus had frozen in his tracks. With a sweeping kick, she felt her foot make contact with something solid. Luminus had landed on a nearby desk with a crash, flickering into view. Wonder Woman rose and dropped onto his chest, where she kneeled as she untied the knots in her lasso.

Just as she had extricated herself, she was slammed into the wall behind her by a barrage of electricity – but this time, she kept a tight grip on her lasso. Rising from the rubble caused by her fall, she seized the slabs of wood from behind her legs and hurled them at Livewire as a means of distraction while she tried to devise a plan. Using the lasso could be a risk, and as an army of Luminus duplicates suddenly encircled her, she firmly decided against it. The first duplicate charged at her, whom she blocked and tossed at three others heading her way. As she worked, she saw Livewire elevating her arms and drawing them together.

Diana was already appalled and irritated at herself for receiving so many blows from Livewire, and now she was determined to outlast her. As the electrical currents shot from her opponent's arms, Wonder Woman raised her own. The remnants of the wooden chair still taped to her gauntlets erupted in flames, and Livewire increased the strength of her electrical onslaught in response. But Wonder Woman remained undeterred; while she delivered kicks to the endless barrage of Luminus duplicates that bombarded her, her arms remained raised as her gauntlets deflected Livewire's currents back to their source.

After several minutes of this, Wonder Woman saw that Livewire had lost none of her stamina. This, and the Luminus clones were becoming tiresome. While many of them disintegrated as they passed through the electric field resulting from the deadlock between Wonder Woman and Livewire, the real Luminus did not slow in replenishing the supply. Then her eyes fell on a Luminus on whose chest the circuitry in the costume was in disarray. The impact of her earlier drop onto Luminus had ruined his attire's delicate engineering.

Before he could notice that she had recognized him, Wonder Woman angled her arms so that Livewire's rays deflected off of her gauntlets and shot towards Luminus. Her aim was true. In an instant, the room cleared – with Luminus incapacitated in a far corner, only Wonder Woman and Livewire were left standing, locked in a battle of endurance.

Wonder Woman's gauntlets glowed red. While they diverted most of Livewire's electricity, the supply was so great that they conducted a tiny fraction. When she caught the faint whiff of burning flesh, she started to step backwards with renewed determination. A grinning Livewire followed her without breaking their connection.

It was time to implement her plan. While Diana had been untying herself, she had noticed an entrance to a small kitchen on the opposite side of the room. The entrance had been destroyed in the battle, but the kitchen itself was standing – and so was the sink. Wonder Woman wrestled an arm from the current she was sustaining and jammed her fist into the wall behind the sink until she felt the water main. With a cry of finality, she wrenched it from its place and aimed it at Livewire.

Livewire fell; the loud snapping of incomplete electrical currents filled the air. Still, Wonder Woman held the pipe steadily in her hands until she was sure that Livewire had lost all of her energy. The crackling of electricity nearly subsided. With a groan, Wonder Woman tossed the pipe aside and headed for the door. She fought the full impact of her injuries, willing herself to ignore her pain until she was on her way to the medical bay.

Around her, the building was in shambles. Tiny flames flickered under piles of rubble. Desks, chairs, and computer screens were strewn around the floor, which was quickly flooding. The walls were scorched from Livewire's electric attacks. Yet in the faint sunlight of the Metropolis dusk that streamed in from the windows, it all looked bewitching. Diana reached for her comm. link to request the Watchtower for assistance, but realized that it was missing. She punched a fire alarm within reach. That would have to do for now.

As Diana stumbled from the wreckage of the office building, she wondered how she would find the Watchtower shuttle. She most certainly did not expect to find Batman waiting for her several yards away from where she stood in weary deliberation. He was hunched forward, his feet apart and arm raised; in his hand he held a batarang, ready to throw at the building. She stared in astonishment.

Even Batman's expression betrayed a hint of surprise. The two gaped at each other. She must have been quite a sight: her arms covered with burn marks and welts from her lasso, her legs and face covered with cuts and bruises and bloodstains – even her hair was singed from being repeatedly electrocuted.

Batman was the first to recover. He returned the batarang to his utility belt and stood up straight, drawing his cape over his shoulders and narrowing his eyes. His performance did not have nearly the same effect as it did in the dark, but then again, Diana rarely found him intimidating. She approached him a little less gracefully than she would have liked.

"Here to rescue me?" she demanded, twinkling at him. She put her hand on her hip.

He considered her for a moment. Wordlessly, he put one arm around her waist, and with the other he shot his grappling hook into the sky.

--


	5. Chapter 5

**V**

Wonder Woman's physical injuries were superficial enough that they would heal in just one day. Upon learning this, she was almost ready to dismiss J'onn's suggestion of staying off duty for the next two days until she remembered Hawkgirl's face upon seeing her return from Metropolis to the Watchtower. While Diana shared no deep friendship with Hawkgirl, she did hold her opinion in high regard. The two always pushed each other to fight beyond their limits, but Hawkgirl's earlier expression had indicated that the extent of Diana's injuries had crossed a line.

With a sigh that only just concealed her impatience, she acquiesced in J'onn's advice. Yet even after she had been cleared to leave the medical bay, she lay in the hospital bed, absent in thought.

The last two days had been challenging, to say the least. The nature of her injuries was unprecedented. First, she carried the full impact of one of Superman's forceful expirations. Then, she struggled against Livewire's incessant blasts of electricity; Superman's Kryptonian physiology could withstand such assaults, but J'onn had noticed that Wonder Woman's body was still faintly trembling. Perhaps most troubling were the wounds she had sustained from the brief moment she had existed without her divine protections. Her mother and later Hephaestus had warned her about the weakness in her armor, but it was not until today that she had had her first encounter with mortality. It put her in mind of Batman – Batman, who had come to find her of his own accord.

Earlier, as J'onn had applied a cooling salve to her burns, she had asked him why he had sent Batman for her instead of another League member, for she knew that Batman was off duty for the week. J'onn replied that he hadn't; Livewire's magnetic fields served as a weak stasis field, so all he had heard from Diana was that she was all right. He and Flash were soon occupied by another disturbance, and later when he finally noticed that her comm. link had been stationary for an inordinate amount of time, Batman was already on his way.

Diana had been unsure of how to react to this revelation. As her eyes followed the path of the circuitry in the medical bay ceiling, she was still unsure. She was perfectly aware of the fact that Batman kept an eye on her. When she first became conscious of this, she grew angry that he didn't think she was a capable warrior. When this idea faded as a possibility, she grew angry that he didn't trust her to exercise control over her abilities. A year ago, this notion too lost its tenability, yet another one had not occurred in its place. Her eyes had sought J'onn for guidance upon hearing of Batman's gallant gesture, but he had only nodded at her with exasperating benignity.

--

The next day, Diana still performed her scheduled maintenance duties in the monitor womb. However, in order to convince her concerned teammates that she intended to remain off duty for some time, she wore Themysciran dress as she worked.

Batman was also there on monitor duty. The two hadn't spoken since they arrived in the Watchtower together after her confrontation with Livewire and Luminus. Such long stretches of agreeable silence between them were nothing unusual, but during her lengthy reflection in the medical bay, she decided that there was one thing she did not want to leave unsaid.

Whatever Batman's grounds for keeping watch on her, she assumed that they were similar to her reasons for staying mindful of him. She never let him out of her sight when they went on cases together because she knew that he was exceptionally gifted but also exceptionally proud; it offended his honor to ask for assistance in the rare instances he required it, no matter how dire his need. Diana was no different. She wanted him to know that she was aware of this.

As he observed the monitors, she crossed her arms and rested them on the head of his chair to watch him work. It was a familiar pose to everyone who knew the two. After a pause, she began. "I wanted to tha—"

"You don't have to say anything," he said gruffly. Diana pleasantly tapped her finger on his chair to silently communicate her thanks. Without shifting his eyes from the screen, Batman continued, "I'm surprised at how well you handled your first major encounter with tabloidization."

Somewhere underneath that remark was a compliment, she noticed with a raised eyebrow. "Did you think that I would demolish the Daily Planet building with my bare fists and save the best for Catherine Grant?"

"Mmh," Batman replied. Even Diana couldn't suppress a laugh.

"The culture of fame is very curious in some parts of Man's World," she reflected aloud after a moment. "I have noticed that in the societies here which blindly follow reason and rationality, celebrities are exemplified as the telos of modernity and progress." She watched him clench his jaw; he was uncomfortable that she had summarized the fundamental premise behind his carefully planned alter ego in one pithy sentence.

Her feeling of satisfaction quickly turned lukewarm when she heard a pleasant voice greet them, "Batman, Diana." Now it was her turn to tense. She stood up straight and turned to face Superman, whom she had also considered during her ruminations in the medical bay.

He was visibly upset. "Diana," he said, "I'm sorry about Luminus and Livewire. I've told the people at Stryker's over and over again that those two aren't like their other prisoners. I—I'm sorry."

She had expected him to say this. "It's not your fault, Kal. Everything negative that happens in Metropolis is not your fault," she said firmly but kindly. She sensed Batman hold his breath for a fleeting moment, which made her second-guess her statement; he must have heard the same admonishment countless times about his relationship to Gotham.

The look in Superman's eyes was unfathomable: a mixture of confidence and defeat, loyalty and indifference. Not for the first time, she wondered how someone as pure as Superman devoted himself so faithfully to a city like Metropolis. Metropolis, for all its steel and glass brilliance, was stifling. Hidden under a glittering guise of progressiveness and well-being was a kind of discredited desperation. Diana thought of Livewire: in a town where the Lois Lanes were paraded as the norm of women's experiences, there were just as many Livewires whose experiences were ignored in favor of cultivating an artificial culture of equality and prosperity. There was also the slow gentrification of Suicide Slum, the monopoly of Lexcorp on civic life. Metropolis's architectural beauty and endless supply of meta-human incursions only pushed its underlying difficulties even further out of consciousness. Surely Superman felt this more often than he betrayed.

"You're right," he said with a sad smile, "Sometimes I forget."

She was overcome with feelings of admiration and compassion for her friend, and guiltily she approached the next topic. "I must say something else. You behaved very strangely in the medical bay when we last spoke. I assure you that I harbor no romantic intentions towards you," she said evenly, with an air of authority that was not diminished by the petty subject of her declaration.

Superman blushed. "Can I say I'm sorry again? Let's just say that I was pretty embarrassed for myself and for 'Man's World' after I read that article." He paused, and then added honestly, "And I was afraid of what Lois would say."

"What _did_ Lois say?" Diana wanted to know. With a grunt, Batman signaled his disinterest in their conversation and glowered at the control panel.

Superman didn't notice this, for his face softened and his eyes turned starry. "Lois knew it wasn't true. I went straight to her after Lantern and I finished up in Ryjel-9. I didn't have to say much, she knows how important she is to me." Upon hearing this, Diana was determined to keep herself from stealing a curious glance at Batman.

The subject of Lois had put Superman in a good mood. "Anything _you_ want to say to me too, Batman?" he joked.

"Get to work," grumbled Batman, carefully avoiding eye contact with Diana as if exempting her from his command. With a sly smile, she returned to running diagnostics of the Watchtower's security system. He didn't have to say much; she already had her suspicions.


End file.
